author: Ryan Hayden Take your Bibles with me and turn to Luke 9. Luke 9 and we are going to be reading verses 10-17.

It's my job this morning to preach from one of the most well known stories in the whole Bible. It's probably the story that first comes to mind whenever you think about Jesus' miracles. It's a very familiar story. The feeding of the 5,000.

Let's go ahead and read it:

[!bible] Luke 9:10-17 - KJV 10. And the apostles, when they were returned, told him all that they had done. And he took them, and went aside privately into a desert place belonging to the city called Bethsaida. 11. And the people, when they knew it, followed him: and he received them, and spake unto them of the kingdom of God, and healed them that had need of healing. 12. And when the day began to wear away, then came the twelve, and said unto him, Send the multitude away, that they may go into the towns and country round about, and lodge, and get victuals: for we are here in a desert place. 13. But he said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they said, We have no more but five loaves and two fishes; except we should go and buy meat for all this people. 14. For they were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, Make them sit down by fifties in a company. 15. And they did so, and made them all sit down. 16. Then he took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them, and brake, and gave to the disciples to set before the multitude. 17. And they did eat, and were all filled: and there was taken up of fragments that remained to them twelve baskets.

I'm going to give you four points this morning. Four things this little familiar story teaches us about the Lord.

Let's pray and we'll get into that.

The first point I want to make this morning is...

1. The Lord Recieves

This is one of the only stories in the gospels that appears in all four gospels. There was also a similar event, the feeding of the 4,000 which you can read about in Matthew and Mark, but that didn't happen until after this.

Remember, the last time that we looked at this, Jesus had sent the disciples away on a mission. He sent them, two by two, to preach and to heal in the towns and villages - and their mission was successful. They came back to Jesus with a lot to say to Him.

But because their mission was successful, Jesus' popularity had grown even more, and Jesus and the disciples were being "peopled to death." There were so many people with so many needs that the disciples just couldn't get a break. They didn't even have time to eat.

So Jesus suggested that they go away to a deserted place - and they chose the wilderness near a town called Bethsaida. This was about a 4 mile boat trip from where they were, and about 8 miles by foot.

And the word got out. So as Jesus and His disciples are getting off the boat, as they are expecting some time alone to recharge their batteries, they see a great crowd of people, thousands of people, travelling by foot and boat toward where they are.

This is not a small group of people here. This is 5,000 men, plus woman and children, it could have been 10,000 people. Just for reference, this is Foster Pavillion, where Baylor University plays basketball. It seats 7,000 people. This is what a game looks like with that many people:

!foster pavillion.jpg

Thats a lot of people trekking over hill and dale to see Jesus. A lot of people who weren't invited.

Now, I don't know about you, but I value my rest time. I get really cranky when I cannot rest. I'm also an introvert, and so that means I need a bit of solitude now and then to recharge my batteries. If I was one of the disciples, I would be looking forward to some time off and when I saw the crowd and I would have thought "Really? Can't you just give us a break? We are tired."

But Jesus didn't see it that way. Jesus had compassion on them. The text says "he received them and spake unto them the kingdom of God, and healed them that had need of healing."

The Lord Receives.

You know, we can always come to Jesus, and He will receive us. It is not in His nature to turn away those who come to Him. No matter how annoying they may be to others.

I'm reminded of John 6:37 which says:

[!bible] John 6:37 - KJV 37. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

Jesus wants people to come to Him. One of the last phrases in the whole Bible, in the book of Revelation is this:

[!bible] Revelation 22:17 - KJV 17. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

God wants people to come to Him. He offers you mercy. He offers you healing. But you have to come.

Maybe you think that God doesn't want you. That it is a cruel joke and that He will reject you if you come to Him - maybe you feel guilty and unworthy to come to Him - but God says "come." If you come, He won't throw you out - He'll offer you His mercy.

Whether religious or non-religious, moral or wicked, if you come to Jesus you will be received.

The Lord receives.

Let's move on to the second point...

2. The Lord Challenges

We don't know when the disciples set out, and we don't know what time the crowds got there, but we do know that as Jesus preached to them, it was starting to get late. The sun was starting to go down. And there was a problem - these people had walked on foot for 8 miles - it was all spontaneous. And they had no food. No one had the foresight to bring some snacks with them.

And so that big crowd of people was about to be a big crowd of hangry people if they didn't get some food. So the disciples came to Jesus and said "Send the multitude away so they can get some food."

Now, it kind of sounds like the disciples were giving Jesus orders here. Maybe they got the big head from their recent ministry success.

And at first reading, it kind of sounds like they are being mean here. Send them away. But this is actually compassionate. They know they don't have food. They know there is scarce food to be had where they were. How are they going to feed all these people?

I mean, think about it. Imagine you found yourself in Gays up the road. And there is a crowd of 7,000 or so people that walked there. Imagine there are no cars. How are you going to find them food? It's an impossible situation.

But it gets worse for the disciples, because when they told Jesus to send the crowds away, Jesus turned to them and said "No. YOU feed them." Jesus commanded them to feed this huge crowd in the wilderness.

I don't know how much experience you have feeding large crowds - but my wife used to be a camp cook and I remember some of those weekly trips to Sam's Club where we filled our minivan to the brim. And we never even had more than 100-200 people.

Let's imagine that Jesus wanted to feed this crowd pizza. That's what we do when we are in a pickle and have a large crowd. Pizza. Do you know how many pizzas it would take to feed a crowd of 7,000 people? It would take nearly 2,000 pizzas.

If you stacked those pizza boxes on top of each other, it would be 250 feet tall. If you stacked them up to the ceiling in here, you would have 31 stacks of pizza boxes, each with 64 pizzas in it. That's a lot of pizza.

If you got a deal and only paid $7 per pizza, that still $14,000 dollars.

So do you see the predicament the disciples were in? Do you see how crazy it must have sounded when the the Lord said "Give YE them to eat."

Where were they going to get that food? Where were they going to get that money to buy that food? It was an impossible challenge.

And I want to tell you, that just as it is in the Lord's nature to receive those who come to Him. It is also in the Lord's nature to put before His disciples an impossible challenge.

This isn't the first time in the scripture God told one of his disciples to do something impossible.

• Leading the children of Israel out of slavery in Egypt was impossible.
• Feeding them in the wilderness for 40 years was impossible.
• Taking the promised land was impossible.
• Slaying Goliath was impossible.
• Living with a poor widow woman who only had a handful of flour and a little oil was impossible.

And probably the biggest impossible task God has given us is the evangelism of the world. Imagine telling a group of 12 nobodies from the middle of nowhere in Egypt to preach the gospel to every creature on earth - that is an impossible challenge.

Why does God give us an impossible task? He does it to teach us to rely on Him. He does it so that we can see Him do the impossible and strengthen our faith.

There is a reason why this miracle is recorded in all of the gospels - because the disciples never forgot this one. They probably remembered this when they faced impossible situations in their own ministries.

• The Lord receives.
• The Lord challenges.

Let me give you a third point this morning:

3. The Lord Multiplies

The disciples in this story told Jesus what they had - they had five loaves and two fishes. John tells us that they had to borrow that from a boy. They borrowed a kids school lunch.

That amount of food wasn't going to feed the 12 - never mind the 5,000.

That is a pitiful lack compared to the need they were facing. They probably looked at that small amount of food and the big crowd and felt mocked by the smallness of it.

But they brought that to Jesus and Jesus chose to take that ridiculously small amount of food and multiply it.

Listen, there is no doubt that this was a miracle of creation. Jesus was making something that didn't exist. Jesus, who spoke the world into existence, was creating food here that didn't exist.

I say that to say that Jesus didn't need this paltry 5 loaves and two fishes. If Jesus can create thousands of fish and thousands of loaves - he doesn't need this. But Jesus chose to use it, to multiply it. I think to show us a lesson - that is how He works.

He brings us to an impossible task, He asks us to do something no one believes we can do, and He talks our paltry effort, our little and he multiplies it.

Imagine someone gives my little Addie 10 dollars. She has no concept of money. She doesn't know the relative worth of things. But lets say she wants a bike that costs $60. So we take her to the store and we pick out her bike and she takes that $10 bill and throws it down on the counter. She is buying a bike. She doesn't even notice that we are behind her, pulling out our debit card to take care of the rest.

That's how God works, He is the great multiplier. He can take our little and multiply it for His purposes.

Listen, your fives loaves and two fishes might not seem like much, but you have a multiplier! You have the God of the universe behind you.

Last night, we went to hear the former White House Press Secretary speak here in Mattoon, someone graciously gave us tickets and so we went. She told the story of how she was riding down the road with her baby daughter when President Trump called and asked her to be the Press Secretary. Obviously, one of the most important phone calls she's ever received.

But she said that wasn't the most important phone call. She said the most important phone call happened when she was right out of college, living by herself in a windowless apartment in New York City, feeling utterly alone in the world. She had just prayed and asked God to speak to her - and right after she prayed, she got a phone call from a church she had visited, letting her know that that they were praying for her.

She said that that one simple call, multiplied by her situation, did more to solidify her faith than anything.

Listen, you don't know how God is going to multiply your prayers, your gifts, your words of encouragement in someone else's life. The little kids you take to church and explain the gospel to might be the next D.L. Moody - or the next President. You don't know. God is the multiplier.

Let me give you one more example: I recently finished a wonderful book on the history of the Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, DC. That church was and is one of the most influential churches in America and has helped me a lot. It was interesting to read how God used that church over the years to be a witness in the capitol, to read how God is using it now and all of the churches that have been started over the world from that church.

But I think most interesting was how it started. It started with a little prayer meeting. Three women in their early twenties decided to meet together and pray that God would establish a church in their poor little neighborhood. They continued to pray together for something like five years before the church was founded.

They could not have known how God would take that little act - the prayers of a few unknown women - and multiply them - and keep multiplying them.

The Lord multiplies. So give Him what you have.

• The Lord receives.
• The Lord challenges.
• The Lord multiplies

One more point:

4. The Lord Provides

Jesus took those five loaves and two fishes and blessed God for them, and then started multiplying, and the people started eating.

Don't you think the people sitting in the back were probably thinking, "There is no way there is still going to be food when it gets to us."

But miraculously, the food kept coming. And the people kept eating until they were full. And there was so much food that the 12 disciples each got a basket of leftovers to take home.

Jesus knew what He was doing.

• This was a reminder to the people of when God provided manna for the children of Israel in the wilderness.
• This was a reminder to them of how God provided food for a hundred with a few loaves through Elisha.

He was, by filling their bellies, reminding them that He is Jehovah-Jireh - the God who provides.

I love Philippians 4:19

[!bible] Philippians 4:19 - KJV 19. But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

God's going to take care of you.

Do you know, that the early church adopted the symbols of bread and fish as reminders that God provides. They have found bread and fish drawings in catacombs - reminding early Christians that God takes care of His own.

I know in my life, God has provided. I could share stories with you that do not seem real of how God has provided for me. He'll provide for you too.

Are you the Lord's servant? Rest in this truth: God makes sure His servants have what they need.

He is the Lord who provides, the Lord who multiplies, the Lord who challenges us.

Will you accept His challenge today?

But He is also the Lord who receives?

Do you know what this story forshadows? It forshadows the day when Jesus would provide abundant salvation for His people. For those who come to Him.

And if you have never come to Christ, then I'm going to tell you - He will receive you and He will save you, if you come to Him.

• Maybe there is someone here today who needs to come to Christ - why not come to Him today.
• Maybe there is someone here who needs to trust Christ in the challenges of faith. God has called you to do something you dont' think you can do and you need to trust Him.
• Maybe there is someone here who needs encouragement to keep giving their five loaves and two fishes - they might not seem like much - but God multiplies.
• Maybe there is someone here who needs to just trust in God's provisioin today - it will come.

Let's stand together and pray and if the Lord has worked on your heart - come to Him today.